Extinction Up Close: A Rare Turtle Under Assault from Poachers

The paper, published last week in Science Advances used a new approach to estimate global extinction rates and supports previous studies finding that Earth is in the midst of a human-driven “mass extinction” spasm on the scale of past mass die-offs triggered by geophysical calamities. (Another important paper last week, assessing evidence for “mass extinction in poorly known taxa” — a euphemism for low-profile organisms, particularly invertebrates — came up with this dark conclusion: “[We] may already have lost 7 percent of the species on Earth and…the biodiversity crisis is real.”)

More than 4,400 freshwater turtles, including 3,800 endangered Palawan forest turtles, were confiscating from a poacher in the Philippines last week.Credit Katala Foundation

A 2012 study published by the international conservation union describes, wrenchingly, how the discovery of the significant population of this turtle at the north tip of Palawan island sparked a “collecting frenzy”:

The recent discovery of a natural population of S. leytensis on Palawan has already spurred a collecting frenzy among wildlife trappers and traders to supply domestic and international markets for the illegal wildlife trade. In spite of its official protected status in local and international listings, the illegal trade in S. leytensis is rampant and is perceived currently as the greatest threat to the species. This threat is exacerbated by the continuing destruction of the lowland forests of Palawan, the primary habitat of the species. If the current trend of overexploitation continues, it is certain that several subpopulations of S. leytensis will soon collapse. In the face of these threats, wildlife authorities on Palawan must immediately enforce relevant laws and encourage greater coordination among appropriate government agencies that typically work in isolation.

The latest reports, from a coalition of turtle conservation groups and the Katala Foundation in Palawan, along with the anti-trafficking group Traffic, show how this has been playing out in a mass roundup and trafficking operation, with the turtles secreted by Chinese merchants in shipments of rattan bound for Hong Kong, where the turtles end up sold both as prized pets and a culinary delicacy. The smuggling route had already been noted in 2012.

In a phone interview, Eric Goode, the founder of the Turtle Conservancy, which breeds and releases rare turtles, said the Palawan forest turtle is particularly vulnerable because of its small range but also because the turtles retreat into communal burrows along stream banks during the day, making poachers’ work easy.

“We work Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden in Hong Kong,” Goode told me. “They’ve been noticing large numbers of this turtle in the food market and pet trade.” He said one indication of the expanded poaching was a drop in the price from 2,500 Hong Kong dollars (about $322 U.S.) to 500 dollars (about $64).

The confiscation of the turtles was hailed today by conservation groups, but Goode said there’s a big challenge in returning them to the wild. Some 3,000 have already been released, but with no certainty they will thrive given the specialize habits.

What's Next

About

By 2050 or so, the human population is expected to pass nine billion. Those billions will be seeking food, water and other resources on a planet where humans are already shaping climate and the web of life. Dot Earth was created by Andrew Revkin in October 2007 -- in part with support from a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship -- to explore ways to balance human needs and the planet's limits.